Former Stoke City midfielder Lou Macari has dismissed Tottenham's chances of finishing inside the top four, suggesting the North London side can't have improved if they still rely on Emmanuel Adebayor to play upfront.

The 65-year-old, whose deflected shot won Manchester United the ’77 FA Cup, speaking ahead of Spurs' game with Stoke City at the weekend, stating he saw nothing from Spurs that should frighten Stoke ahead of Sunday’s meeting.

Macari added: ‘’There’s no way I can see them finishing top four, Spurs that is.

‘’You have to wonder if they have moved on and improved if they are still relying on Emmanuel Adebayor up front.

‘’Maybe they have finally found a replacement in Harry Kane – and how good is it to see a young local lad coming through because there’s precious few these days?

‘’Spurs haven’t deemed him good enough to start consistently, but I fancy he might get the nod for Stoke.’’

Adebayor has been the Premier League striker of choice, starting nine out of their 10 games, but has only seen a return of two goals despite playing nearly 750 minutes of Premier League action.

Kane, on the other hand, has netted four goals in three appearances in the Europa League and scored his first Premier League goal of the season in dramatic style on Sunday as Spurs’ snatched all three points from Aston Villa in the last 10 minutes.

To suggest Tottenham still solely rely on Adebayor is naive, Mauricio Pochettino has stated on numerous occasions that he will rotate his three first-team strikers – Harry Kane, Emmanuel Adebayor and Roberto Soldado – in order to keep things fresh.

Although, it could be argued that Harry Kane should have had more playing time in the Premier League than he currently has.

Just two points separate Tottenham and Stoke going into Sunday’s game and a win for Mark Hughes’ men would see them leapfrog Spurs and potentially into the top half. Tottenham, however, will have their eyes firmly fixed on looking up as a win could put them on 17 points – the same as rivals West Ham and Arsenal.